Why should Instagram Reels be on your to-do list?
Why are Instagram Reels so Important for Small Businesses?
Are you looking for easy ways to raise awareness of your business using social media, ways that don’t involve ads or having to chat in endless Facebook groups?
How does getting your posts routinely seen by 1000s, of not 10s of 1000s of people, even if your account is new, sound?
If that’s got you interested then please read on!
(And no, I’m not sharing anything yukky or spammy – as I hope you know by now, that’s not what I’m about!)
No, what I want to share with you is the fantastic opportunity that exists right now to get the word out about your business to 1000s of your new potential customers using … Instagram Reels.
What are Instagram Reels?
So – what are Instagram Reels? It’s the latest form of content to be added to the family of content we can create on Instagram (posts, Stories IGTV, Live and Guides being the others.) A Reel is a short video – 15- 60 seconds long, (usually) made up of short video clips all spliced together (the clever creating tools in Instagram do that bit!)
This introduction from Instagram will give you an idea if you’ve never seen Reels.
Instagram introduced Reels in summer 2020 as a way to compete with the threat it saw in TikTok – and businesses using them have seen fantastic reach ever since!
How are Reels different from Stories?
Instagram Stories are made up of (usually) multiple short videos or images, and only appear for 24 hours. They are great for encouraging engagement.
We see Stories created by people we follow, and they appear at the top of the Instagram news feed.
Reels are different – to quote Instagram itself: ‘Reels is designed to entertain you… the majority of what you see is from accounts you don’t follow.
In other words, Reels is about getting your content discovered by people who haven’t yet met you – it’s a way of introducing your business to a wider audience. When people discover your business this way, they may then check out the rest of your content and your profile.
Reels appear in the newsfeed, and under their own Reels tab, as well as in the ‘Explore’ field.
If you’re not creating Instagram Reels for your business, why should you consider them?
1. Easy visibility
Reels currently rack up 1000s (if not 10s of 1000s) of impressions without any need for paid-for ads (although ads within Reels are being rolled out too, predictably enough!)
This shows what a huge leap in impressions I saw when I shared Reels for the first time in ages earlier this year:
And this shows the breakdown of an audience seeing Reels – even though the total reach is quite modest, this Reels reached over 1,700 people who weren’t followers of the account
Compare that with the reach achieved by a post and a couple of Stories in the same week, and you can see just how well Instagram Reels are performing as a way to increase awareness of the business:
2.The reach of Reels isn’t shut down by the Instagram algorithm
Instagram has explained that Reels content isn’t controlled by the same algorithm that controls newsfeed posts and Stories (which has been the subject of many moans by businesses as they see their reach steadily reducing.)
Reels are seen as more similar to content that would be chosen by Instagram to appear in the ‘Explore’ tab – again showing that Reels can introduce our content and our business to 1000s of new potential customers. Instagram has also said that they favour Reels created by smaller creators, which is great news!
(For all the information about the current Instagram algorithm and how it works for Reels, Stories, Posts and Explore, check out this article )
3. Instagram is focusing on video
In this video shared on Twitter, the head of Instagram shared that they no longer see Instagram as a photo-sharing app, but as an entertainment app, driven by video.
So, they’ll be focusing even more of their efforts on video content – especially Reels, as they are classed as entertaining!
4. Reels are going to get even more visbility soon!
Instagram is currently testing 2 ways to get Reels to show up in front of even more people:
First they’re testing showing Reels as a tab at the top of the Facebook (yup, Facebook) newsfeed, along with Stories and Rooms – as described here..
Second, they’re testing showing ‘Explore’ content (presumably including Reels) in the Instagram news feed, alongside the content from accounts we follow, as shared here.
So you can tell that the fantastic reach you can easily achieve by using Reels won’t be going away any time soon – and in fact, it’s likely to increase!
Now you know why businesses and marketers are excited about using Reels, do you think you’ll start using them too?
If you’d love to make the most of Instagram Reels and Stories, but you’re feeling overwhelmed, or don’t know how to get started, why not check out my course which will take you by the hand and show you step-by-step, exactly how to create Reels and Stories?
All the info is here – reserve your spot now!
